Posts published in Day: July 2, 2019

Honor to Serve Riga (GKR) faction at the Riga City Council does not plan to support candidates for the Riga mayor nominated by other parties, said the party’s board member Mareks Gailitis. In his words, the present situation is that either GKR candidate Olegs Burovs is supported or “nobody”. At the same time, GKR continues discussions with other parties on further cooperation at the Riga City Council. On July 2,…

President Dalia Grybauskaitė and President Andrzej Duda of Poland issued a joint statement to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Union of Lublin. The Presidents commended the foresightedness of the predecessors to create the Commonwealth of Two Nations based on equal partnership and joint responsibility which was an inspiration for the whole Europe to integrate and build closer cooperation between states as the best answer to respond to internal and…

Lukiskes Remand Prison in central Vilnius will be officially closed on Tuesday, with the last 74 arrestees and inmates moved on Monday, informed LETA/BNS. All in all, 599 people, including 227 arrestees and 372 inmates have been moved out of the prison since early January. The prison building will be handed over to state enterprise Turto Bankas (Property Bank) and it will decide what to do with it. “We hope…

The amount of time that Estonian residents aged 50 and above have spent in education and employment is longer than in most other countries of Europe, it appears from the findings of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Liili Abuladze, researcher at the Estonian Center for Population Studies at Tallinn University, described it as an interesting and surprising finding of the survey that the length of…

At the proposal of the civil service committee for the selection of top managers, Estonia’s Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps is about to appoint to office three new deputy secretaries general of the Ministry of Education and Research. The new top officials to start work in August are Kristi Vinter-Nemvalts, who will be responsible for general education, language and youth policy, Robert Lippin, responsible for vocational and adult…

Suspended Riga mayor and newly elected European Parliament lawmaker Nils Usakovs (Harmony) has the status of a suspect in the criminal case investigating procurements at Rigas Satiksme municipal public transport company, the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) confirmed to LETA. Also, KNAB said that during searches in Usakovs’ office, an object of strategic signifcance has been seized by KNAB officials. In line with the Criminal Law, purchase, storage and use of…

Riga City Council and Estonian company SIA Prana property intend to terminate joint property rights for the real estate property located in Zolitude, Priedaines Street 20, where Maxima supermarket had collapsed in November 2013, as decided by Riga City Council City Property Committee on Monday, 1 July. Following the committee’s decisions, both sides will be responsible to their own portion of property. This means it will no longer be necessary…

Liquidation of municipal foundation Riga.lv, which currently works with losses worth EUR 235 000, could take seven to eight months, according to what Riga City Council Property Department head Aija Rimicāne said on Monday, 1 July. On 1 July, the committee unanimously supported liquidation of the foundation and decided to propose this topic to be discussed in Riga City Council. According to documents added to the meeting’s agenda, the foundation’s…

In May 2019, Latvia’s unemployment level was 6.4%, which is higher than the average in the EU, according to data published by Eurostat on 1 July. According to Eurostat, the highest unemployment levels among EU member states in May were observed in Spain – 13.6%, Italy – 9.9%, France – 8.6%, Croatia – 7%, Finland – 6.8%, Portugal – 6.6% and Cyprus – 6.5%. The lowest unemployment levels were observed…

The French capital has on Monday introduced new limitations to diesel vehicles in the city centre, as Paris has been labelled most polluter western European capital. French news agency AFP reports that since July 1, Paris’ authorities have prohibited all diesel vehicles, including motorbikes and trucks aged 13 years or over from the city centre, after diesel vehicles over 18 years old and petrol vehicles over 21 years old are…